[R] Kind words about R in political science lists

[Paul E. Johnson]

Just wanted to pass on the good words I hear about R.  Last week someone
posted a general question about time series packages in the political
science research methods list and I trolled for a flamewar by asking why
everybody doesn't use R, the open source high quality program.

Interestingly enough, no flame war ensued. One person rather feebly
asserted he'd rather not have open source because he did not feel
qualified to read code, but several others added very strong words for
R. 

One person said "I use R extensively for both statistical and
computational work, and I highly recommend the package.  It usually
manages memory *far* better than the other famous implementation of the
S language.  Having the source code is a great thing.  If there is a
function which is too
slow or doesn't do exactly what one wants done, one can change the R
source code or link in one's own preferred C/C++ or Fortran object. The
benefits of being able to learn from and modify the source code
cannot be underestimated.  Would any one of us trust an estimator which
was a black box?  Would we use it just because the inventor said: "trust
me the estimator actually *does* work, but I can't tell you in detail
how because of intellectual property concerns"?  Why should we adopt a
different standard for the numerical algorithms we use?"

While another added " In response to your well-put comments below, I use
R virtually everyday after years of using Splus.  Other than the Trellis
graphics (which make everything look like Bill Cleveland did it), there
is very little that R does not have over Splus, and R has better scoping
rules within
functions.  The best part is that you can take your Splus code and run
it on R generally without modification.  So in addition to the free and
open part you mention, there is considerable power and near complete
compatibility with the de facto package for research statisticians"

Just thought you'd get a happy feeling to hear some good words from a
neutral audience.

-- 
Paul E. Johnson        			email: pauljohn at ukans.edu
Dept. of Political Science     		http://lark.cc.ukans.edu/~pauljohn
University of Kansas           		Office: (785) 864-9086
Lawrence, Kansas 66045         		FAX: (785) 864-5700
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